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* *. - - -. - *) .-~-- PAGZ j5OýWWU FE PsspNpA, I0R 2, 91L The only Whîtby Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Imc. at 131 Brook St. N, Whitby, Ontario Il N 5S1 Phone 668:.6111 Toronto Line:427-1834 Doug Anderson - Pubisher Maurice Pifhe.r - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager 2nd Class Postal Registration #05351 1-'w To the Edîtor: After reading this week's paper (Free Press, Sept. 25, 1arn amazed ta find myself in the position of attempting ta defend aur PC member, René Sastens. Mr. Perry, wrtes (letter, 'Asking for input only an attempt ta rebuild popularity') ta find faultt with the fact that Mr. Sootens has natified your. readers that ho plans ta organize meetings ta discuss thé new constitutional plans. t should camne as no surprise ta Mr.' Perry that aur MP has held meetings (town-hail type) each month for abut - 10 ronths af each year, and has held them In each af the municipalities that ho ropresents. Als, based on Mr. Perry's letter, it shauîd came as no surprise ta hlm that ail meetings- that «I have been ablo ta attend have beon'vory poorly attendod. R is a lot sasier ta comptain by tettor than ta Uot out, îe psoeo bis tîme and lot tho 'vmoumborknbow how ho foots. Like rnost Canadians. Mr. Perry probably doesn't understand the ratianale behlnd the GST, witl be surprised ta find that tho GST was designod ta bring in about the sarne'about of maney ;as the aId FST and Is irnpraving the campetitiveness oai aur efficient industries. 1 do not believe that Mr. Saetens supparts the MP pension plan, the Yaung Offenders Act or thoecment raises for MPs and senior bureaucrats. Ho is alsa the membor thât found the toophote that stapped the Senate's grab for per diern manies. I'suggest that Mr. Perry would have boon botter served by attending (and bringing with him No substance to allegation by Barber To the EdItor: Re: Letter from David Barber, Whltby, Sept. 11, Whltby Faee Proe I wcDuld like ta assure M~y canstittents that thero is no substance ta, Mr. Barbor's aloegation that the NDP provincial government plans ta place a tax on equity irom ioMdividuai homes. Perhaps Mr. Raffber wauld liko to giveua clu. dta t>ie.basis for thsassumptian R i is certainly noît basod an the intentions ai this govemment. I would aiea ike ta cangratulate mr. Barber upon bis olectian as president of the local Roform Party Association. the 10 average Canadians he knows) ta the meetings over the last years than waiting tilt naw ta chalege Mr. Sootens ta cail a date. H e had lots of' chances ta vaice his views. Also, in the. samne editian, Mr. McLean (letter, 'Where dld government find tho mamney?') let lbase a tirade at Mr. Soetens. It is lnteresting ta me the way senior citizens expect the world to ratate around them (lm also a- senior). Mr. McLean blames the PCs for the detay in cheques during the recent postai strike. Each and every senior *had the appartunity ta have their cheques deposited directly ta their bak and, knowing the way postal management and labour relations are, should have taken advantago of that. Rt is also obviaus that Mr. McLean didn't agree with helping. remove Saddar f rom Kuwait. This Is funny, for, as a senior, he should remember what almast happened when govemments of the time failod ta take that kind of action against Hitler. Mr. Sastens' party has made many bad moves while in power. but 1Ibelieve f rom discussions that rnany cf the worst of themn have been ovor Mr. Soetens' objections in caucus. I fimd Mr. Soetens ta b. a good representative for aur riding. Face it, we ail feel the major problemn is the party's leader. W.J. Galger Whltby Decine of industry in Canadla To the Edîtor: Our country as w. -know it is changing, rapidly. tndeed w. have rnany probtems that need ta b. addressed. But the primary problem that wo are faiîing ta confront and address in an organized rnanner is the loss ai aur industrial jobs, the decline af the manufacturing sectar, the deindustrialization of Canada. Theso jobs were the economic bCjckbonp ai Canada andi they are aiun'ig, noverlta return. Tho long-range impçt, socially, ecInaocaily anÎd palitkýaIly, will be tremendaus. We areifast becominè a society ai service providers. BIýt the high wage rates of the industrial sector payt2e bills. nowilt pay for the services? What kind ai job wilt your child have? This country did not devetop an industrial strategy and it shows. f we do not do something soon -- witt there b. any industriel jobs toit ?' Drmn hite.JoAGat. I ~ -- -w s-s--- A Iost cause By Stephon Leahy In foltowdig the ongoing discussions and protests. agalnst the proposed hçusing develop- ment around the Lynde Marsh 1 can't help but feel Rt is a lost cause. ft seems too farfetched for us ta value a marsh more than the need for people to, have houses, for dovelapers and builders to work and make a profit and for the Town ta grow and.collect more taxes. Thoso who 'are pratesting bolleve the marsh has value to thomn becauso they can walk there and su~ birds, animais and plants they wauld not find ln their 20 by 40 foot backyards. That is ail wel and gaod, but that Is not what aur eonomy is ail about. Growth and devetapment is what progress is ail about. As we are o fen told, our oconomy has-ta continu~e to grow and grow. Our campanies have ta grow by 5pr cent, 10 p9er cent or mare each yar. Sa des aur tawn. Sa daes the cauntry's economn'Y. We, taa, struggle ta, make sure aur incarnes graw ta keep pace with everyono else -- ta get that second car, or TV or VCR The conseqluences of flot keepin!g pace, ai companies flot growing is almost tao much'ta even think about. Sa it seemrs ta me that the people who want ta save the marsh are trying ta stop a train with sticky tape. As much as 1 sympathize with them, they are ultimately going ta lose. Progress is unstoppable. This is, only true if you believe that there is flot other way ta live. Progress does flot make for any easy Id1e. There is always that pressure ta do more, ta make more, ta spend more. Always more, neyer a chance ta sit back and say,* enough; 1 have enough. This is what is meant by the term 'rat race", Thoreau said that most people live a Ifde of quiet desperation. That is the resuft af prog ress. Hey, but we live an easy Id1e, much easier thari the people Thoreau was talking about in the 1900s. We like our comfortabte lives of the 1990s. 1 like my warm, co.sy ihous". )the caomputer; that makès it eay ta write' this and miy car takes me 'effortlessly into a nearby forest. These are the results of progress. Whfid progress has been good ta most of us, it has been very hard on the planet., The atmosphere and the forests are dying. Perhaps the bceans as well. We do not know that much about ail the probtems aur g rogress is creating. What we ave Ieamned in the last ten years is f rightening. The f ruits of pragress are turning bitter. As long as we believe aur econamnios can graw encltesslty and we ail can continue ta consume doomed. Sa are we. ecycllng will not save us. Takin~ the train instead of your car-on e in a while won't do it. Using r cIed toilet paper wan't help. hat has ta change is auowy i l~inking. There is not a1 politician, liberat, canservative, sociaiist or fascist who doos not believe that economîc growth is ood. That is something they alitc~ agre. on. kt seems so obvious.' k is becaming equally abviaus that aur planot is in deep trouble. This unfortunate situatian should flot surprise them, since it is the lagicat autcame ai endless economic growth.' kt is a slmple.asthls. We have adapted a way af 111. that is driven by the idea ai endless baunty. The place where we. liv. and from which this bauntyi srig is nat endtess. W. have',xceeed tho capacity of aur: planet ta spptly aur endless demands for mare. We are now perman ntly darnaglng aur home becausý wo cannot se. the connection. And if we do see R, we are mare'ai raid ta change the way we think and live than about some future environmental disaster. W. have ta change the way we think about ouirselves - and our world. The basis for this change has ta bu away f rom the idea that the earth is here for us ta use as we see fit. W. have ta accept that other species matter for their own sake, not- j ust for their usefulness ta us. This idea that a marsh, a piece of wilderness, a stand ai trees, or a sparraw, is valuable for its own sake is a radical- concept. We cannot state the value af the Lynde Marsh and surrounding lands in terms aif Y dollars. These lands, the streams, pônds and att that lives there have their own value by the fact ai their existence.- This new way ai thinking goes camptetety against, the way we have treated every other living thing an this planet. But it is the onty way we witl b. able ta save the earth. It is hard ta accept this way ai thinking and what it implies. We are so used ta, thinking that if somethingdoos not, do anything for me or the rest of mankind, thon it is vatuetess --warthless. A worthtess patch of cedar; a worthless field /oai stonos; a worthless prodator. Where do*we f et the * ht ta'--m ake those oementre W. do, have the rlghtot live, aur tives bu not et the expense af evorythinq olse. And whon the coftarises betwen aur right ta exlst and a marsh's. How d we, delde? Flrst, wo have ta acknowtoge that tho rnarsh has the sane right ta exlst as w. do. Thon, we must cansidor how vitally Important Rt Is for us ta talcs away t's rlght ta- oxist. W.' have ta truly cansider this 'priceo f pragress' ln terme we can understand: wundor what cictrumstances wauld I1 aiiow" someane ta take away-my ii.e?" Onty with this kind of thinking can we begin ta rodress tho Impacts w. have had on aur world. ft wilt tako a. çreat deai of courage to adopt this new way cf thinking. Rlt gaes complotely against the grain of tho way w. livo and the way we want ta live. .W. can bearn ta liv. as Hf ail other spCies mattered as rnuch as we., Wecanif w. want too. Given a choice, like -Most othors, I would rather not have ta change my camfortablo way of 1fe. Even thaugh it probably would bu deeply rewardinq. But when 1 see my children playing on the swings, I know w. don't have-a choiàce. Opinions expressed are those Of the author., so theedsons Not interested? To the Eýdltbr: The Town cou 'cili rreeting on Sept. 23- was atte e ya very interesting group d ividuais -- namnely ail the cat idtes for the centre ward. The '4 c~idates, with the exception i fJôlinDoîstra wha has regularly attended al the meetings aW the Town Hall, have rareîy, if ever, attended caunicil, planning, operatian or budget meetings. - S MY questions ta these candidates are: 1. If you, the candidae, have agenuine concren for the centre word, then where were you in the tts thre. years?» 2. Why were . you not i1 erosted. enough ta regutarly ttend important meetings dlealing v~it h centre ward issues? 3. Why did y ou not attend the budget meeting? 4. If you truly wish ta reprosent the contre ward in an informed manner, don't you think you should have boon attending ail the meetings? S. Are we, the centre ward residents, not worth your time or are w. just worth your time if you are buing compensated? t sincerely hope that this last question is not true, but I wonder. Robert Kennedy < Contre ward reeldont; Defendingour MP mm m E a V-M-W- -ý,- - èmv 1 agnwmioow - î 1